National health plan UnitedHealth Group has had success using incentives to create patient engagement with its own employee population, according to an article in Health Affairs.
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A new paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research looks at trends in aging and burden of illness, finding some evidence for greater health during most of life, with…
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For the dog days of August we have an appropriate topic, actuarial work on health insurance reserving. The American Academy of Actuaries releases what is actually a very useful guide…
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Research reported in Health Affairs looks at possible links between the level of physician apprehension about being sued for malpractice and the ordering of diagnostic tests.
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Mark Farrah Associates provides an analysis of the enrollment and profitability trends for large health plans for the first quarter of 2013.
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Some well-known former political and regulatory figures are proposing another shopworn approach to dealing with health spending and quality issues.
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The Kaiser Family Foundation issues a brief report on the status of the Medicare hospital readmissions penalty program as it heads into its second year, with CMS levying significant penalties…
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A report sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson foundation examines the current state of electronic medical record use in the United States.
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An analysis performed for CMS looks at the effect of narrower pharmacy networks with preferred providers for Part D plans, finding that generally these networks had lower spending.
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Whatever government reimbursement mechanism is used, the affected providers are likely to change behavior to maximize their economics, as reflected in an Office of Inspector General report on observational hospital…
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About this Blog
The Healthy Skeptic is a website about the health care system, and is written by Kevin Roche, who has many years of experience working in the health industry. Mr. Roche is available to assist health care companies through consulting arrangements through Roche Consulting, LLC and may be reached at khroche@healthy-skeptic.com.